Cup holders have become omnipresent in vehicles of all types and have more recently begun to find their way into other places where people feel the urge to keep a drink close at hand. For example, couches, chairs, strollers, movie theater and stadium seats, and other furniture now typically include one or more cup holders to allow a user to place a beverage within easy reach without having to worry about inadvertent spills. It seems that cup holders are a convenience we can no longer do without.
A problem with cup holders is that they are usually of a fixed size. If you want to use them to hold a cup or other container that doesn't fit snugly in the cup holder, it tends to move around and spill its contents. Also, it's not unusual to find that a tall water bottle or other container that you like to carry with you doesn't fit in the cup holder at all. An example is a coffee mug or other cup with a handle. In other cases, the cup holder is too shallow and the container is easily knocked out of the cup holder and onto the floor, the seat of the person who placed it there, or worse yet, onto another person in close proximity to the cup holder. Or, it falls out when a vehicle turns a corner, hits a bump, or makes other sudden moves.
The users of cup holders are frequently frustrated by these shortcomings. In some cases, cup holder sleeves have been developed that make the cup holder smaller. In other cases, particularly in high end airplanes and boats, the user may remove a cup holder insert from a panel into which the cup holder is cut and try to enlarge it to accommodate a bigger container. This may result in damage to expensive wood or other materials surrounding the cup holder insert. Repairs may involve replacement of the materials as well as the time and labor of skilled craftsman. The cup holder adapter of the present invention overcomes these problems and may be used in a great variety of cup holders having a host of different shapes, widths and depths.